Trump Administration Will Allow Elephant Trophies To Be Imported From Zambia, Zimbabwe

The Trump administration is all set to reverse the Obama-era ban on importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia to the United States. The administration announced Wednesday that the remains of legally hunted elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia can now be imported to the U.S.

President Donald Trump has decided to lift the 2014 ban and let big game hunters like his sons Eric Trump and Donald Jr. import the heads of elephants as trophies.

According to the New York Post, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that though the elephants are still listed under the Endangered Species Act, it will still begin to grant permits for importing elephant trophies.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official website, “Legal, well-regulated sport-hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation.”

Chris Cox, Executive Director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action said, “By lifting the import ban on lion trophies in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the Trump Administration underscored the importance of sound scientific wildlife management and regulated hunting to the survival and enhancement of game species in this country and worldwide.”

He added, “This is a significant step forward in having hunting receive the recognition it deserves as a tool of wildlife management, which had been all but buried in the previous administration.”

According to the report in New York Post, some years back there was an outrage when pictures of the president's son, Donald Trump Jr. showed him posing with a dead pachyderm posted on social media. Trump’s other son, Eric, also faced criticism after similar images of him with a dead leopard and other creatures were seen on social media.

According to the Washington Post, the change in U.S. policy has come up just a few days after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke formed an ‘International Wildlife Conservation Council’ that would advise him on how to increase public awareness of conservation, wildlife enforcement, and the economic benefits that come from U.S. citizens traveling abroad to hunt.

While creating the group, Zinke said, “The conservation and long-term health of big game cross international boundaries. This council will provide important insight into the ways that American sportsmen and women benefit international conservation from boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation.”

A nonprofit organization devoted to the conservation of African pachyderms, the Elephant Project tweeted that the reprehensible behavior by the Trump administration will lead to more poaching.

President and CEO of the Humane Society of the U.S., Wayne Pacelle, in his blog, portrayed his anger towards Trump administration for the policy change.

Pacelle wrote, “Let’s be clear: elephants are on the list of threatened species; the global community has rallied to stem the ivory trade; and now, the U.S. government is giving American trophy hunters the green light to kill them.”

He also wrote, “It’s time for the era of the trophy killing of Africa’s most majestic and endangered animals to come to a final close, and the United States should not be retreating from that commitment.”